Viruses and Diseases in the Civil War

Miss Sabia

The Civil War was fought “at the end of the medical middle ages.”

» Union army surgeon general

Causes of Rapid Spread of Diseases

• Poor sanitary conditions in camps– Latrines built

upwind– Waste from

cooking and slaughtering animals built up on the ground

The Camps

• “littered with refuse, food, and other rubbish, sometimes in an offensive state of decomposition; slops deposited in pits within the camp limits or thrown out of broadcast; heaps of manure and offal close to the camp.”– Says one inspector in late 1861

Causes of Rapid Spread of Diseases

• Recruitment process allowed men in noticeably poor health to join the army– By late 1862, about 200,000 recruits accepted into

the army were judged physically unfit and discharged

The recruitment office

“The next step was a medical examination to determine physical fitness for service. Each town had its physician for this work. The candidate for admission into the army must first divest himself of all clothing, and his soundness or unsoundness was then decided by causing him to jump, bend over, kick, receive sundry thumps in the chest and back, and such other laying-on of hands as was thought necessary. The teeth had also to be examined, and the eyesight tested, after which, if the candidate passed, he received a certificate to that effect.”

– In 1860 and ‘61, more interested in proving fitness– In later years, only looking to prove unfitness

Causes of Rapid Spread of Diseases

• #1 CAUSE= CONTAMINATED WATER!

May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

• For a soldier from the North:– 1 in 8 chance of dying from disease– 1 in 18 chance of dying in battle

• For a soldier from the South:– 1 in 5 chance of dying from disease– 1 in 8 chance of dying in battle

North (chance of dying of disease)

North (chance of dying in battle)

South (chance of dying from disease)

South (chance of dying in battle)

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

Some Statistics

• Northern deaths:– 110,000 from battle– 225,000 from disease

• Southern deaths:– 94,000 from battle– 164,000 from disease

Northern Deaths from DiseaseSouthern deaths from diseasesNothern Deaths from battleSouthern deaths from battle

Disease was the biggest killer of the war

deaths from diseasesdeaths from battle

Other Causes of Disease

• Soldiers got infections from surgery– Surgeons did not know how to sterilize their

equipment– Often did not wash their hands or equipment due

to frequent shortage of water• These infections called “surgical fevers”– caused largely by bacterial cells that produced

pus, destroyed tissue, and released deadly toxins into the blood

• “Typhoid fever was even more devastating. Perhaps one-quarter of noncombat deaths in the Confederacy resulted from this disease, caused by the consumption of food or water contaminated by salmonella bacteria.”

• A simple cold could often developed into pneumonia

The Main Killers

• Typhoid• Pneumonia• Measles• Tuberculosis• malaria

Pathogens

• Microbes that cause diseases…

VIRUSES and BACTERIA

Bacteria

• Earliest form of life (3 billion years ago)• Prokaryotic cells (no organelles, no nucleus)• Single celled• have a cell wall

Bacteria

• 3 shapes:– Cocci (spherical)– Bacilli (rod shaped)– Spirilla (spirals)

Bacteria

• Use flagella to “swim” or produce thick coats of slime to “slide” around

How Bacteria Infect

• Give off chemicals called toxins that can make us sick

• Our body fights off bacterial infections using antibodies

Viruses

• Single-celled• Not considered living– Cannot reproduce on

their own– Cannot move on their

own– Called “particles” or

“agents”• About 4,000 different

types of viruses

Viruses

• Have genetic material (DNA or RNA) enclosed in a capsid– Some viruses have a

viral envelope covering their capsid (taken from host cell)

– sneaky

How Viruses Infect

• Lytic cycle– 1. entry into cell– 2. replicate DNA– 3. make viral proteins– 4. assemble new generation– 5. exit from infected cell—host cell bursts open (lyses)

and virus is released into the environment, host cell dies

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DP-MAhr0YY

How Viruses Infect

• Lysogenic cycle (sneaky!)– 1. entry into cell– 2. DNA incorporated into host cell’s DNA– 3. host cell copies chromosomes– 4. host cell divides and replicates—all new cells

have virus’ DNA incorporated into their own– 5. steps 3-5 from lytic cycle

• http://wrate.me.vccs.edu/courses/env108/lesson2_4.htm

Microbiology Lab—Microbes Around Us

• Swab Demo:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U6usyE80io – Note: we will not be wetting our swabs in distilled

de-ionized water as the video says